For reasons that are not understood, depression both increases the risk for developing epilepsy and is also common among people with epilepsy who experience many seizures. |
Increasingly, clinicians treating people with epilepsy ask about current depression, but they may not ask about past suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts. Our results may alert clinicians to the need to ask this question and offer any needed counseling to prevent [later] suicide. |
One question we had was whether some symptoms of depression were more important than others for increasing the risk for developing epilepsy. Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempt were possibilities, because people with epilepsy seem to be more likely to commit suicide than the general population. But we looked at all symptoms of depression. |